About Darcy Allen

Darcy Allen is research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs and a final year PhD Candidate in economics at RMIT University in Melbourne. At the IPA Darcy's current focus is the economics of regulation and innovation. His PhD dissertation develops a new theoretical approach to innovation economics, focusing on the private governance of entrepreneurial information in the early stages of new technologies, such as blockchains and 3D printing. Darcy’s research, opinion pieces and comments have featured, among other places, on the pages of The Australian, Australian Financial Review, The Weekly Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times, and The West Australian. Darcy’s writing has featured in peer-reviewed academic journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, and has been regularly presented at conferences.

Workplace relations, taxation and the regulation of alcohol are only some of the costly and complex burdens facing Australian hospitality and related industries. This paper is an enquiry into one subset of these burdens, liquor licensing, which impacts businesses from supermarkets to small bars. Liquor licensing refers to state-based regulatory restrictions on the sale of [...]

From videography and construction, to the age-old primary industries of agriculture and mining, drones hold remarkable potential to revolutionise many Australian industries. From 29 September 2016 regulatory changes by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) cut red tape on drones by removing burdensome license requirements for low-risk operations and carving out an exclusion category for [...]

“Nick Xenophon is wrong to try to disallow new drone regulations” said Darcy Allen, Research Fellow at the free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. The changes made by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) include scrapping licenses for amateur for-profit drone users flying under 2 kg in favour of a simpler notification [...]

“The Productivity Commission (PC) draft report on the Regulation of Agriculture shows what farmers have long known - duplicative and unnecessary red tape holds agriculture back,” said Darcy Allen, research fellow with free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. These comments come after the Institute of Public Affairs made a submission into the [...]

When digesting the Productivity Commission report into the regulation of agriculture, policymakers should redouble efforts to drive productivity growth through innovation. Specifically, reform efforts should centre on cutting red tape holding back new technologies. Agribusiness is fundamentally a global game. Every year in Australia some 275,000 employees export around two-thirds of their produce to the [...]

The recent emergence of a national innovation policy agenda—and indeed the marathon election campaign founded on it—raises serious questions about the role and scope of the government in fostering entrepreneurship. Governments should clearly and forcefully articulate one point: getting innovation policy right means getting economic policy right. It is true that innovation should sit as [...]

“Australian agriculture is worth over $50 billion each year to this country, but it is shackled by unnecessary and burdensome red tape,” said IPA research fellow Darcy Allen. These comments come after the release today of the Productivity Commission Draft Report into the Regulation of Agriculture. “Around two thirds of agricultural production is exported each [...]

The diversity of Australian aviation goes far beyond commercial flights between capital cities - there is also a vital network of non-scheduled, charter and fire-fighting services which keeps regional Australia connected. But these smaller regional carriers and airports are threatened by the creep of red tape from big regulators. The disconnect between heavy regulation and [...]

The next Australian government should seek bipartisan support for a new and ambitious red tape reduction target which will extend beyond the ebbs and flows of the political cycle. Yesterday I proposed a new benchmark for judging the success of red tape reduction efforts. Regulators should add up all of the instances they require an [...]

Assessing the success of any red tape reduction efforts should begin by understanding the current scope and extent of Australia’s red tape problem. Back in 2014 the Commonwealth attempted to determine the cost of red tape. After asking portfolios to estimate compliance costs the verdict was $65 billion each year. Recently the Institute of Public [...]